Telescoping article retrieval system with plenum assembly attached to slave belt

ABSTRACT

A telescoping article retrieval system for rapidly removing articles from a plastic molding machine or other manufacturing process in a way that significantly reduces the cycle time, while consistently maintaining vacuum control of the articles being handled. Two light weight double telescoping tubes are driven by a dual carriage assembly in which power is conveyed to one carriage by means of a servo, belt drive or other mechanism, allowing it to extend and retract. A second belt drive encompasses a first carriage and ties a second carriage to a fixed main beam such that linear movement of the first carriage of the dual carriage assembly a certain distance causes linear movement of the second carriage of the dual carriage assembly and also causes linear movement of the double telescoping tubes a distance equal to twice the distance that the first carriage has moved.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to article retrieval systems of thetype employed to rapidly remove articles from a plastic molding machineor other manufacturing process and, more particularly, to a compactdouble telescoping vacuum retrieval system utilizing high-flow vacuum.

Various telescoping article retrieval systems are known in the priorart. U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,352 to Johnson describes an article retrievalsystem utilizing two pairs of telescoping retrieval tubes. U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,465,854 and 6,026,970 to Sturm et al. describe telescoping tubeassemblies. U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,189 to Hashimoto et al. describes arobot utilizing a telescopic drive mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,042 toBecicka et al. describes a double telescoping arm adapted for use inrobotic palletizers.

The representative prior art machines described above aredisadvantageous in a variety of aspects. Some of them occupy undesirablylarge areas of floor space. They typically employ low flow-high pressurevacuum and suction cups that must physically contact each article to behandled in order to effect capture and removal of articles from amolding machine. These techniques require that the machines performadditional movements which result in longer cycle times. In addition,these prior art machines suffer from an inability to consistentlymaintain vacuum control of captured articles.

The present invention provides a space-saving telescoping articleretrieval system for rapidly removing articles from a plastic moldingmachine or other manufacturing process in a way that significantlyreduces the cycle time over that of prior art machines, whileconsistently maintaining vacuum control of the articles being handled.

In accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, two light weight double telescoping tubes are driven by adual carriage assembly in which power is conveyed to one carriagethrough a servo, belt drive or other mechanism, allowing it to extendand retract. A second belt drive encompasses a first carriage and ties asecond carriage to a fixed main beam such that linear movement of thefirst carriage of the dual carriage assembly a certain distance causeslinear movement of the second carriage of the dual carriage assembly andalso causes linear movement of the double telescoping tubes a distanceequal to twice the distance that the first carriage has moved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall pictorial diagram of the telescoping articleretrieval system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an end pictorial diagram of the article retrieval system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a main beam assembly portionof the article retrieval system of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a pictorial diagram illustrating an intermediate carriageportion of the article retrieval system of FIGS. 1 and 2

FIG. 5 is a pictorial diagram of a plenum assembly portion of thearticle retrieval system of FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrating vacuum air flowthrough a number of plenum openings and within primary and secondaryplenum vacuum tubes of the plenum carriage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now generally to FIGS. 1-5, there is shown a telescopingarticle retrieval system 100 which can be fixedly or slidably mounted invarious configurations proximate to a conventional plastic moldingmachine or other external machinery for further processing. Articleretrieval system 100 includes a horizontal, fixedly-positionedlongitudinal main beam 2, an intermediate carriage 4, and a plenumassembly 12.

Referring now more specifically to FIG. 3, there are shown the detailsof main beam 2 of the article retrieval system 100. Main beam 2 isprimarily a structural tube 3 that includes left and right supportmembers 5 for mounting article retrieval system 100 to an externalsupport structure. Right support member 5 includes a vacuum interfacepad 7 at a vacuum port 9 to facilitate coupling an external vacuumsource, not part of the present invention, to vacuum port 9. Inaddition, right support member 5 provides mounting points for a pair ofstationary vacuum tubes 28 to convey vacuum air to an external device. Adriven pulley 19 is fixedly mounted to the outer face of structural tube3 of main beam 2 by any conventional means such as shafting androtational bearings. An idler pulley 18 is slidably attached to theouter face of structural tube 3 by similar conventional means. Idlerpulley 18 conveys tension to a master drive belt 8 that is attachedbetween idler pulley 18 and driven pulley 19. Two main beam rails 14 arefixedly longitudinally attached to the outer face of structural tube 3by way of conventional fasteners. Idler pulley 18, driven pulley 19, andmaster drive belt 8 cooperate in concert to provide power to theintermediate carriage 3 when rotational motion is applied to drivenpulley 19 by an external driver, such as a servo motor.

Referring now more specifically to FIG. 4, it will be seen that theprimary component of intermediate carriage 4 is a carriage plate 21,while two intermediate vacuum tubes 30 serve as an additional conduitfor conveyance of vacuum air. A plurality of intermediate carriagebearings 23 are fixedly attached to the inner face of carriage plate 21.A master drive belt clamp 20 is fixedly attached to the outer face ofcarriage plate 21. Intermediate carriage bearings 23 and master drivebelt clamp 20 serve to slidably attach intermediate carriage 4 to themain beam rails 14. Two intermediate carriage rails 16 are fixedlylongitudinally attached to the outer face of carriage plate 21 by way ofconventional fasteners. Two slave belt idler pulleys 22 are attached atopposite ends of carriage plate 21, and a slave belt 10 is tensionedover slave belt idler pulleys 22. Slave belt 10 is additionally attachedto main beam 2 by way of a main beam belt clamp 26. The slave belt idlerpulleys 22 and slave belt 10 work in concert to transfer power from theintermediate carriage 4 to the plenum assembly 12.

Referring now more specifically to FIG. 5, it will be seen that thecomponents of plenum assembly 12 are a plenum carriage 6 and two primaryplenum vacuum tubes 32 whose ends are capped by means of primary plenumvacuum tube end caps 38. The primary plenum vacuum tubes 32 are providedwith a plurality of primary plenum vacuum tube openings 35 and aplurality of secondary plenum vacuum tube openings 42. A plurality ofplenum carriage bearings 33 and a plenum carriage belt clamp 24 arefixedly attached on the inner face of plenum carriage 6 and serve toslidably attach plenum assembly 12 to the intermediate carriage rails 14and to slave belt 10. A receiver mounting plate 41 having a plurality ofvacuum openings 36 therein is fixedly attached to plenum supports 37 bymeans of a conventional adhesive, for example. Plenum supports 37 aresimilarly fixedly attached to the primary plenum vacuum tubes 32, theends of which include an opening 42 that provides a further route forthe flow of vacuum air. Two secondary plenum vacuum tubes 34 havingsecondary plenum vacuum tube end caps 40 provide a supplemental conduitfor the flow of vacuum air. More specifically, during normal operationof the telescoping article retrieval system of the present invention,the intermediate carriage 4 travels longitudinally between twopredetermined positions, referred to as the intermediate extend positionand the intermediate retract position. As intermediate carriage 4travels between these two positions, plenum assembly 12 will travellongitudinally between two resulting positions, referred to as theplenum extend position and the plenum retract position. By design, theplenum extend and intermediate retract positions are the same positionand correspond to the positions of plenum assembly 12 and intermediatecarriage 4 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The plenum extend positionrepresents a position that is double the distance of the intermediateextend position from either the plenum retract position or theintermediate retract position. During the portion of a cycle when plenumassembly 12 is at the plenum extend position, vacuum air enters vacuumopenings 36 and is routed through openings 33 in primary plenum vacuumtubes 32 into plenum vacuum tubes 32, into intermediate vacuum tube 30,into stationary vacuum tube 28 by way of support mount 5, and out ofport 9 in mount pad 7, as illustrated by the vacuum flow arrows shown inthe lower portion of FIG. 5. As article retrieval system 100 cycles fromthe plenum extend position to the plenum retract position, intermediatevacuum tubes 30 cover the openings 33 in primary plenum vacuum tubes 32.When plenum assembly 12 is fully retracted, vacuum air enters vacuumopenings 36 and is routed into secondary plenum vacuum tubes 34, intoopenings 42 in primary plenum vacuum tubes 32, into intermediate vacuumtubes 30, into stationary vacuum tubes 28, through support mounts 5, andout of port 9 in mount pad 7, as illustrated by the vacuum flow arrowsshown in the upper portion of FIG. 5.

A plurality of conventional receivers or other suitable capture devicesmay be attached to vacuum openings 36 in receiver mounting plate 41 incorrespondence with the positions of molded articles, for example, asthey are ejected from an external molding machine.

We claim:
 1. A telescoping article retrieval system comprising: Afixedly-positioned, horizontal main beam comprising a structural tube,said structural tube having one or more support mounts for attachingsaid telescoping article retrieval system to an external supportstructure, said main beam further comprising a main beam belt clampfixedly attached thereto; a horizontally-positioned intermediatecarriage slidably attached to said main beam for longitudinal movementalongside said main beam, said intermediate carriage comprising acarriage plate; a driven pulley fixedly attached to an outer face ofsaid structural tube at a proximal end thereof, said driven pulley beingcoupled to an external driver; an idler pulley slidably attached to saidouter face of said structural tube at a distal end thereof; a masterdrive belt attached between said idler pulley and said driven pulley;one or more slave belt idler pulleys attached at opposite ends of saidcarriage plate; a slave belt positioned in tension over said slave beltidler pulleys, said slave belt being fixedly attached to said main beambelt clamp; a plenum assembly slidably attached to said intermediatecarriage and to said slave belt, said plenum assembly comprising aplenum carriage, said plenum carriage comprising one or more primaryplenum vacuum tubes for conveying vacuum air from an external vacuumsource to a plurality of vacuum openings in said plenum carriage.
 2. Atelescoping article retrieval system as in claim 1, further comprising asecondary plenum vacuum tube fixedly attached to each of said one ormore primary plenum vacuum tubes, each of said secondary plenum vacuumtubes having an opening therein cooperating with an interior cavity ofan adjacent one of said one or more primary plenum vacuum tubes toprovide a secondary conduit for the conveyance of vacuum air when saidplenum assembly is in a fully retracted position.
 3. A telescopingarticle retrieval system as in claim 1, wherein: said intermediatecarriage further comprises one or more intermediate carriage railsfixedly attached longitudinally to an outer face of said carriage plate;and said plenum assembly is slidably attached to said one or moreintermediate carriage rails.
 4. A telescoping article retrieval systemas in claim 1, further comprising: one or more main beam rails fixedlylongitudinally attached to said outer face of said structural tube; aplurality of intermediate carriage bearings fixedly attached on an innerface of said carriage plate; and a master drive belt clamp fixedlyattached to an outer face of said carriage plate; and wherein: saidmaster drive belt is attached to said master drive belt clamp, saidplurality of intermediate carriage bearings and said master drive beltclamp serving to slidably attach said intermediate carriage to said mainbeam rails.